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GPA for Prospective Teachers

Governor Terry Branstad has proposed a GPA requirement for prospective teachers who are applying to Iowa’s colleges. The proposal would require a 3.0 GPA or a B average. Iowa currently has no requirements on GPA. This proposal would have meant one of every five students enrolling in teaching programs in Iowa would have been denied this year. DR. Mike Jorgenson, Superintendent for Washington Schools, says he doesn’t look at GPA when they are hiring teachers. He says sometimes teachers with lower GPA can understand what students are going through and connect to them better. He says if this requirement were in place when he started his career he would have been denied. His GPA didn’t start to improve until he was in a teaching program in college. He worries that Iowa will lose great teachers, who would be forced to go to out of state schools to get a degree. You can here more on Dr. Jorgenson’s thoughts about this proposal and others during our In Touch program today.